Tunneling field effect transistor having interfacial layer containing nitrogen

ABSTRACT

A method for fabricating a tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) includes the steps of providing a substrate and then forming an interfacial layer on the substrate. Preferably, the step of forming the interfacial layer includes the steps of: performing a plasma treatment process to inject a first gas containing nitrogen; injecting a second gas containing oxygen; and injecting a precursor to react with the first gas and the second gas for forming the interfacial layer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a tunneling field effect transistor(TFET) and fabrication method thereof, and more particularly to a TFEThaving interfacial layer containing nitrogen and fabrication methodthereof.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In the past decades, semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry hasdeveloped rapidly. The advancement of semiconductor materials andmanufacturing technology allows ICs to contentiously shrink withincreased complexity and improved performance. More semiconductordevices having smaller feature sizes may be formed within a unit area ofa semiconductor substrate to achieve a higher integrity. However, itadversely results in some technological problems. For example, closelyarranged semiconductors devices may have larger leakage current andobvious signal interference. Furthermore, power consumption is also aprimary concern in advanced technology.

Tunneling field effect transistors (TFETs) have been proposed to takethe place of conventional metal-oxide semiconductor field effecttransistors (MOSFETs) in some applications confronted with the aforesaidproblems. TFETs are advantageous over conventional MOSFETs in therespects of smaller sub-threshold swing (for example, smaller than 60mV/dec), larger on-off current ratio (I_(on)/I_(off)) and smalleroff-state leakage current (I_(off)).

However, there are still some problems in existing TFETs. For example,the on-state current (I_(on)) of a TFET is too low for certainapplication and the sub-threshold swing of a TFET still need furtherimprovement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method forfabricating a tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) includes the stepsof providing a substrate and then forming an interfacial layer on thesubstrate. Preferably, the step of forming the interfacial layerincludes the steps of: performing a plasma treatment process to inject afirst gas containing nitrogen; injecting a second gas containing oxygen;and injecting a precursor to react with the first gas and the second gasfor forming the interfacial layer.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a tunnel fieldeffect transistor (TFET) includes: an interfacial layer on a substrate,wherein the interfacial layer comprises nitrogen; a gate electrode onthe interfacial layer; a source region on one side of the gatestructure; and a drain region on another side of the gate structure.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-8 illustrate a method for fabricating a vertical TFET accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 9-11 illustrate a method for fabricating a planar TFET accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

To provide a better understanding of the present invention to those ofordinary skill in the art, several exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention will be detailed as follows, with reference to theaccompanying drawings using numbered elements to elaborate the contentsand effects to be achieved. The accompanying drawings are included toprovide a further understanding of the embodiments, and are incorporatedin and constitute a part of this specification. These embodiments aredescribed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized and thatstructural, logical and electrical changes may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a cross-sectional diagram illustratinga TFET in the beginning of a series of successive fabricating stepsaccording to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG.1, a stacked structure comprising, from bottom to top, a semiconductorsubstrate 112, a source region 114, a tunneling region 116, a channelregion 118 and a drain region 120 are provided.

The semiconductor substrate 112 may be a silicon substrate or a GroupIII-V semiconductor substrate. According to a preferred embodiment, thesemiconductor substrate 112 is a substrate having a Group III-Vepitaxial semiconductor compound or semiconductor alloy formed thereon.For example, the semiconductor substrate 112 may be, but is not limitedto, a sapphire substrate on which a semiconductor compound such as SiGe,GaAsP, GaAs, AlGaAs, InGaAs, AlGaAsSb, InGaAsSb or a semiconductor alloymay be epitaxially grown thereon.

The source region 114, the tunneling region 116, the channel region 118and the drain region 120 are preferably Group III-V semiconductorcompounds. More preferably, the source region 114, the tunneling region116, the channel region 118 and the drain region 120 are Group III-Vsemiconductor compounds particularly having small energy band gap, forexample, smaller than 0.75 eV or 0.5 eV, but is not limited thereto. Thesource region 114 is a heavily doped region having a first conductivitytype, having a dopant concentration larger than 1E10¹⁹/cm³, but is notlimited thereto. The tunneling region 116 is a heavily doped region or adoped region having a second conductivity type. The dopant concentrationof the tunneling region 116 may be larger than 1E10¹⁹/cm³, but is notlimited thereto. The channel region 118 is a doped region having thesecond conductivity type. The dopant concentration of the channel region118 may be smaller than 1E10¹³/cm³, but is not limited thereto. Thedrain region 120 is a heavily doped region having the secondconductivity type. The dopant concentration of the drain region 120 maybe larger than 1E10¹⁹/cm³, but is not limited thereto. The thickness ofthe tunneling region 116 is smaller than the thickness of the channelregion 118. In a preferred embodiment, the thickness of the tunnelingregion 116 is less than the thicknesses of the source region 114, thechannel region 118 and the drain region 120, respectively.

According to an embodiment, the first conductivity type is P type andthe second conductivity type is N type. For example, the source region114 may be a P⁺ AlGaAs region, the tunneling region 116 may be an N⁺InGaAs region, the channel region 118 may be an N⁻ AlGaAs region, andthe drain region 120 may be an N⁺ AlGaAs region, but is not limitedthereto.

It should be noticed that the concentrations of dopants in the sourceregion 114, the tunneling region 116, the channel region 118 and thedrain region 120 may be individually controlled during their respectiveepitaxial growing processes. An additional implantation process may beperformed after their respective epitaxial growing process to furtheradjust the dopant concentrations.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a cross-sectional diagram illustratinga TFET after the step of etching a channel layer of the TFET accordingto one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, afterforming a patterned mask 122 on the drain region 12, an etching processusing the patterned mask 122 as an etching mask is performed to etchaway a portion of the drain region 120 and the channel region 118,thereby transferring the pattern of the patterned mask 122 to the drainregion 120 and the channel region 118 successively. The patterned mask122 may be, for example, a patterned photoresist. According to theembodiment, the etching process may form a step-shaped structure havinga step-height on the top surface of the channel region 118. According tovarious embodiments, the etching process may only remove the drainregion 120 exposed from the patterned mask 122 without further removingany portion of the channel region 118 directly under the removed drainregion 120, and consequently no step-height would be formed on the topsurface of the channel region 118. Optionally, a doping process may beperformed to further adjust the dopant concentration of the exposedchannel region 118, and then the patterned mask 122 is removed.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a cross-sectional diagram illustratinga TFET after the step of etching a tunneling layer of the TFET accordingto one embodiment of the present invention. After removing the patternmask 122, another patterned mask 124, for example, a patternedphotoresist, is formed on the channel region 118 and the drain region120. Another etching process using the patterned mask 124 as an etchingmask is then performed to etching away a portion of the channel region118 and the tunneling region 115 exposed from the patterned mask 124until a top surface of the source region 114 is exposed. Similarly, anoptional doping process may be performed to further adjust the dopantconcentration of the exposed source region 114, and then the patternedmask 124 is removed.

Please refer to FIG. 4, is a cross-sectional diagram illustrating a TFETafter the step of depositing a first metal layer of the TFET accordingto one embodiment of the present invention. After patterning the drainregion 120, the channel region 118 and the tunneling region 116 andexposing a portion of the source region 114, an interfacial layer 126, agate dielectric layer 130, a bottom barrier layer 132 and a first metallayer 134 are successively formed conformally covering the top surfaceof the source region 114, the sidewall of the tunneling region 116, thesidewall and the top surface of the channel region 118, and the sidewalland the top surface of the drain region.

It should be noted that the formation of the interfacial layer 126 isaccomplished by first performing a plasma treatment process to inject afirst gas containing nitrogen, injecting a second gas containing oxygen,and then injecting a precursor to react with the first gas and thesecond gas for forming the interfacial layer 126.

Specifically, the first gas includes NH₃, N₂, or combination thereof,the second gas includes N₂O, O₂, or combination thereof, and theprecursor preferably includes elements such as La or Hf and an exampleof the precursor could include HfCl₄. In this embodiment, an interfaciallayer 126 containing nitrogen is formed after reacting the first gas,the second gas, and the precursor, in which the interfacial layer 126could be a dielectric layer including but not limited to for exampleLaON or HfON.

Next, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process is conducted to form agate dielectric layer 130 on the surface of the interfacial layer 126.According to one embodiment, the gate dielectric layer 130 is a high-kdielectric layer. Preferably, the dielectric constant (k) of the gatedielectric layer 130 is larger than 4. The material of the gatedielectric layer 130 may be selected from a group comprising, but is notlimited to, hafnium oxide (HfO₂), hafnium silicon oxide (HfSiO₂),hafnium silicon oxynitride (HfSiON), aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃), lanthanumoxide (La₂O₃), lanthanum aluminum oxide (LaAlO₃), tantalum oxide(Ta₂O₃), zirconium oxide (ZrO₂), zirconium silicon oxide (ZrSiO₄),hafnium zirconium oxide (HfZrO₄), strontium bismuth tantalate,(SrBi₂Ta₂O₉, SBT), lead zirconate titanate (PbZr_(x)Ti_(1-x)O₃, PZT),barium strontium titanate (BaxSr_(1-x)TiO₃, BST) and other suitablerare-earth metal oxides. The bottom barrier layer 132 preferableincludes titanium nitride (TiN) and has a thickness, for example, largerthan 20 angstroms. The first metal layer 134 preferably includestitanium or aluminum, but is not limited thereto.

Please refer to FIG. 5, which is a cross-sectional diagram illustratinga TFET after the step of performing an anisotropic etching process toetch the first metal layer of the TFET according to one embodiment ofthe present invention. After forming the gate dielectric layer 130, thebottom barrier layer 132 and the first metal layer 134, an anisotropicetching process is performed to etch the first metal layer 134 until thefirst metal layer 134 becomes discrete portions and exposes most of theunderlying bottom barrier layer 132. It is one feature of the presentinvention that the removal rate of the first metal layer 134 in thecorner regions are slower than other regions because that the etchantsused in the anisotropic etching process have less possibility to getinto the corner regions. As a result, a portion of the first metal layer134 at the corner defined by the top surface of the source region 114and the sidewall of the tunneling region 116 and another portion of thefirst metal layer 134 at the corner defined by the top surface channelregion 118 and the sidewall of the drain region would remain after theanisotropic etching process. In other words, the continuous first metallayer 134 is patterned into discrete portions at each cornerrespectively without performing a conventional photolithography process.The process of patterning the first metal layer 134 may be regarded as aself-aligned patterning process.

Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a cross-sectional diagram illustratinga TFET after the step of depositing a second metal layer of the TFETaccording to one embodiment of the present invention. After patterningthe first metal layer 134, a second metal layer 136 and a top barrierlayer 138 are successively and conformally formed on the bottom barrierlayer 132 and the first metal layer 134. Preferably, the second metallayer 136 is in direct contact with the first metal layer 134. Accordingto one embodiment, the composition of the second metal layer 136 isdifferent from the composition of the first metal layer 134. Forexample, the first metal layer 134 may comprise aluminum (Al), and thesecond metal layer 136 may comprise titanium nitride (TiN). According toone embodiment, the top barrier layer 138 may include titanium nitride(TiN) having a thickness larger than 20 angstroms.

Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a cross-sectional diagram illustratinga TFET after the step of performing a thermal process according to oneembodiment of the present invention. After forming the second metallayer 136 and the top barrier layer 138, a thermal process is performedto diffuse the metal atoms of the first metal layer 134 into nearbysecond metal layer 136, or reversely diffuse the metal atoms of thesecond metal layer 136 into nearby first metal layer 134. The thermalprocess may be a thermal anneal process. According to one embodimentwherein the first metal layer 134 is made of aluminum and the secondmetal layer 136 is made of titanium nitride, the aluminum atoms of thefirst metal layer 134 in region A of the TFET are diffused into nearbysecond metal layer 136, and the titanium atoms of the second metal layer136 are diffused into the underlying first metal layer 134 concurrentlyduring the thermal process. After the thermal process, a TiAlN alloymade from the first metal layer 134 and the second metal layer 136 wouldbe formed in region A of the TFET, as shown in FIG. 7.

Please refer to FIG. 8, which is a cross-sectional diagram illustratinga TFET after the step of performing a patterning process according toone embodiment of the present invention. After the thermal process shownin FIG. 7, a patterned mask 140, for example, a patterned photoresist isformed on the top barrier layer 138. An etching process using thepatterned mask 140 as an etching mask is then performed to transfer thepattern of the patterned mask 140 to the top barrier layer 138 and thesecond metal layer 136. According to one embodiment, the etching processmay also transfer the pattern of the patterned mask 140 to the bottombarrier layer 132 and the gate dielectric layer 130. The patterned mask140 is removed after the etching process, and a vertical-type TFET 100according to the embodiment of the present invention is obtained.

Please still refer to FIG. 8. The TFET 100 has a gate electrode 142including at least a first gate electrode 142 a, a second gate electrode142 b and a third gate electrode 142 c. The first gate electrode 142 aand the third gate electrode 142 c in the two regions A of the TFET havethe same composition because they are formed by thermal diffusion of themetal atoms of the first metal layer 134 and the second metal layer 136.On the other hand, the second gate electrode 142 b would have acomposition different from the compositions of the first gate electrode142 a and the third gate electrode 142 c. According to one embodiment ofthe present invention, the first gate electrode 142 a and the third gateelectrode 142 c have the same work function which is smaller than thework function of the second gate electrode 142 b. For example, the firstgate electrode 142 a and the third gate electrode 142 c have the samework function of 4.1 eV, and the second gate electrode 142 b has a workfunction of 4.5 eV.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first gateelectrode 142 a and the third gate electrode 142 c have gradient metalconcentrations. More specifically, the first gate electrode 142 a andthe third gate electrode 142 c comprise a particular kind of metal atomsin a concentration reducing gradually from their bottoms to their tops,and comprise another particular kind of metal atoms in a concentrationincreasing gradually from their bottoms to their tops. For example,according to one embodiment wherein the first metal layer 134 is made ofaluminum and the second metal layer 136 is made of titanium nitride, theconcentration of aluminum atoms reduces from the bottom to the top ofthe first gate electrode 142 a and the third gate electrode 142 c, andthe concentration of titanium atoms increases from the bottom to the topof the first gate electrode 142 a and the third gate electrode 142 c.

Referring to FIGS. 9-11, FIGS. 9-11 illustrate a method for fabricatinga planar TFET according to an embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 9, a substrate 212 such as a silicon substrate orsilicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate is provided, and a fin-shapedstructure 214 is formed on the substrate 212, in which the bottom of thefin-shaped structure 214 is surrounded by an insulating layer made ofmaterial such as silicon oxide to form a shallow trench isolation (STI).

Similar to the aforementioned embodiment, it would be desirable toimplant dopants of particular conductive type into the fin-shapedstructure 214 depending on the type of TFET device being fabricated. Forinstance, if a n-type TFET were to be fabricated, it would be desirableto implant phosphorus or arsenic ions into the fin-shaped structure 214,in which the concentration of the implanted dopants could beapproximately 10¹³-10¹⁸ cm⁻³. If a p-type TFET were to be fabricated, itwould be desirable to implant boron ions into the fin-shaped structure214, in which the concentration of the implanted dopants could beapproximately 10¹³-10¹⁸ cm⁻³.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the fin-shapedstructure 214 could be obtained by a sidewall image transfer (SIT)process. For instance, a layout pattern is first input into a computersystem and is modified through suitable calculation. The modified layoutis then defined in a mask and further transferred to a layer ofsacrificial layer on a substrate through a photolithographic and anetching process. In this way, several sacrificial layers distributedwith a same spacing and of a same width are formed on a substrate. Eachof the sacrificial layers may be stripe-shaped. Subsequently, adeposition process and an etching process are carried out such thatspacers are formed on the sidewalls of the patterned sacrificial layers.In a next step, sacrificial layers can be removed completely byperforming an etching process. Through the etching process, the patterndefined by the spacers can be transferred into the substrate underneath,and through additional fin cut processes, desirable pattern structures,such as stripe patterned fin-shaped structures could be obtained.

Alternatively, the fin-shaped structure 214 could also be obtained byfirst forming a patterned mask (not shown) on the substrate, 212, andthrough an etching process, the pattern of the patterned mask istransferred to the substrate 212 to form the fin-shaped structure.Moreover, the formation of the fin-shaped structure could also beaccomplished by first forming a patterned hard mask (not shown) on thesubstrate 212, and a semiconductor layer composed of silicon germaniumis grown from the substrate 212 through exposed patterned hard mask viaselective epitaxial growth process to form the corresponding fin-shapedstructure. These approaches for forming fin-shaped structure are allwithin the scope of the present invention.

Next, at least a gate structure 216 or dummy gate is formed on thesubstrate 212. In this embodiment, the formation of the gate structure216 could be accomplished by a gate first process, a high-k firstapproach from gate last process, or a high-k last approach from gatelast process. Since this embodiment pertains to a high-k last approach,a gate dielectric layer 16 or interfacial layer, a gate material layermade of polysilicon, and a selective hard mask could be formedsequentially on the substrate 212, and a photo-etching process is thenconducted by using a patterned resist (not shown) as mask to remove partof the gate material layer and part of the gate dielectric layer throughsingle or multiple etching processes. After stripping the patternedresist, a gate electrode or gate structure 216 composed of patternedgate dielectric layer 218 and patterned gate material layer 220 isformed on the substrate 212.

Next, at least a spacer 222 is formed on the sidewalls of the gatestructure 216, a source region 224 is formed in the fin-shaped structure214 on one side of the spacer 222, and a drain region 226 is formed inthe fin-shaped structure 214 on another side of the spacer 222, and asilicide layer (not shown) could be selectively formed on the surface ofthe source region 224 and drain region 226. In this embodiment, thespacer 222 could be a single spacer or a composite spacer, such as aspacer including but not limited to for example an offset spacer 228 anda main spacer 230. Preferably, the offset spacer 228 and the main spacer230 could include same material or different material while both theoffset spacer 228 and the main spacer 230 could be made of materialincluding but not limited to for example SiO₂, SiN, SiON, SiCN, orcombination thereof.

It should be noted that the formation of the source region 224 and thedrain region 226 could be accomplished by first forming a patterned mask(not shown) to cover the gate structure 216 and the fin-shaped structure214 on one side (such as left side) of the gate structure 216, and thenconducting an ion implantation process to implant dopants into thefin-shaped structure 214 on another side (such as right side) of thegate structure 216 to form the source region 224. After removing thepatterned mask, another patterned mask could be formed to cover the gatestructure 216 and the source region 224, and another ion implantationprocess is conducted to implant dopants into fin-shaped structure 214 onanother side or the opposite side of the source region 224 to form thedrain region 226 and at the same time define a channel region 232 in thefin-shaped structure 214 directly under the gate structure 216.

Since the present embodiment pertains to the fabrication of a n-typeTFET device, the source region 224 preferably includes p-type dopantssuch as boron while the channel region 232 and the drain region 226include n-type dopants such as phosphorus or arsenic. During operation,the source region 224 is preferably connected to ground and a positivevoltage is applied to the gate structure 216. In another embodiment suchas if a p-type TFET were to be fabricated, the source region 224 of thedevice would include n-type dopants while the channel region 232 and thedrain region 226 would include p-type dopants. During operation of ap-type TFET, the source region 224 is connected to ground and negativevoltage is applied to the gate structure 216.

After the aforementioned ion implantations are completed and after thepatterned mask is removed, a thermal treatment process such as a rapidthermal treatment, a spike anneal process, or a laser anneal processcould be conducted to activate the implanted dopants to form heavilydoped regions in the source region 224 and drain region 226respectively. It should be noted that each of the source region 224 andthe drain region 226 would slightly expand during the thermal treatmentprocess. Specifically, the area of the source region 224 and the drainregion 226 would extend toward the channel region 232 directly under thegate structure 216 so that the resulting gate structure would be moreclose to the source region 224 and the drain region 226 therebyimproving the performance of the device.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10, a contact etch stop layer (CESL) 234 isformed on the substrate 212 surface and the gate structure 216, and aninterlayer dielectric (ILD) layer 236 is formed on the CESL 234afterwards. Next, a planarizing process such as a chemical mechanicalpolishing (CMP) process is conducted to remove part of the ILD layer 236and part of the CESL 234 to expose the gate material layer 220 composedof polysilicon so that the top surfaces of the gate material layer 220and ILD layer 236 are coplanar.

Next, a replacement metal gate (RMG) process is conducted to transformthe gate structure 216 into a metal gate. For instance, the RMG processcould be accomplished by first performing a selective dry etching or wetetching process using etchants including but not limited to for exampleammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH) or tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) toremove the gate material layer 220 or even gate dielectric layer 218from gate structure 216 for forming a recess 238 in the ILD layer 236.

Next, as shown in FIG. 11, an interfacial layer 240 is formed on thesurface of the fin-shaped structure 214 in the recess 238. Similar tothe aforementioned embodiment, the formation of the interfacial layer240 is accomplished by first performing a plasma treatment process toinject a first gas containing nitrogen, injecting a second gascontaining oxygen, and then injecting a precursor to react with thefirst gas and the second gas for forming the interfacial layer 240.

Specifically, the first gas includes NH₃, N₂, or combination thereof,the second gas includes N₂O, O₂, or combination thereof, and theprecursor preferably includes elements such as La or Hf and an exampleof the precursor could include HfCl₄. In this embodiment, an interfaciallayer 240 containing nitrogen is formed after reacting the first gas,the second gas, and the precursor, in which the interfacial layer 240could be a dielectric layer including but not limited to for exampleLaON or HfON.

Next, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process is conducted to form agate dielectric layer 242 on the surface of the interfacial layer 240.According to one embodiment, the gate dielectric layer 242 is a high-kdielectric layer. Preferably, the dielectric constant (k) of the gatedielectric layer 242 is larger than 4. The material of the gatedielectric layer 242 may be selected from a group comprising, but is notlimited to, hafnium oxide (HfO₂), hafnium silicon oxide (HfSiO₂),hafnium silicon oxynitride (HfSiON), aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃), lanthanumoxide (La₂O₃), lanthanum aluminum oxide (LaAlO₃), tantalum oxide(Ta₂O₃), zirconium oxide (ZrO₂), zirconium silicon oxide (ZrSiO₄),hafnium zirconium oxide (HfZrO₄), strontium bismuth tantalate,(SrBi₂Ta₂O₉, SBT), lead zirconate titanate (PbZr_(x)Ti_(1-x)O₃, PZT),barium strontium titanate (BaxSr_(1-x)TiO₃, BST) and other suitablerare-earth metal oxides. The bottom barrier layer 132 preferablecomprises titanium nitride (TiN) and has a thickness, for example,larger than 20 angstroms. The first metal layer 134 preferably comprisestitanium or aluminum, but is not limited thereto.

Next, a work function metal layer 244 and a low resistance metal layer246 are formed in the recess 238, and a planarizing process such as CMPis conducted to remove part of the low resistance metal layer 246, partof the work function metal layer 244, and part of the high-k dielectriclayer 242 to form metal gate 248. Next, part of the low resistance metallayer 246, part of the work function metal layer 244, and part of thehigh-k dielectric layer 242 are removed to form a recess (not shown),and a hard mask 250 made of dielectric material such as silicon nitrideis formed into the recess, in which the top surfaces of the hard mask250 and the ILD layer 236 are coplanar. In this embodiment, the gatestructure or metal gate 248 fabricated through high-k last process of agate last process preferably includes an interfacial layer 240containing nitrogen, a U-shaped high-k dielectric layer 242, a U-shapedwork function metal layer 244, and a low resistance metal layer 246.

In this embodiment, the work function metal layer 244 is formed fortuning the work function of the metal gate in accordance with theconductivity of the device. For an NMOS transistor, the work functionmetal layer 244 having a work function ranging between 3.9 eV and 4.3 eVmay include titanium aluminide (TiAl), zirconium aluminide (ZrAl),tungsten aluminide (WAl), tantalum aluminide (TaAl), hafnium aluminide(HfAl), or titanium aluminum carbide (TiAlC), but it is not limitedthereto. For a PMOS transistor, the work function metal layer 244 havinga work function ranging between 4.8 eV and 5.2 eV may include titaniumnitride (TiN), tantalum nitride (TaN), tantalum carbide (TaC), but it isnot limited thereto. An optional barrier layer (not shown) could beformed between the work function metal layer 244 and the low resistancemetal layer 246, in which the material of the barrier layer may includetitanium (Ti), titanium nitride (TiN), tantalum (Ta) or tantalum nitride(TaN). Furthermore, the material of the low-resistance metal layer 246may include copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), titanium aluminum (TiAl), cobalttungsten phosphide (CoWP) or any combination thereof.

Next, a photo-etching process is conducted by using a patterned mask(not shown) as mask to remove part of the ILD layer 236 adjacent to themetal gate 248 for forming contact holes (not shown) exposing the sourceregion 224 and drain region 226. Next, metals including a barrier layerselected from the group consisting of Ti, TiN, Ta, and TaN and a lowresistance metal layer selected from the group consisting of W, Cu, Al,TiAl, and CoWP are deposited into the contact holes, and a planarizingprocess such as CMP is conducted to remove part of aforementionedbarrier layer and low resistance metal layer for forming contact plugs252 electrically connecting the source region 224 and drain region 226.This completes the fabrication of a semiconductor device according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

Overall, the present invention discloses an approach to form interfaciallayer on the substrate for improving leakage of a TFET, in which theinterfacial layer formed could be applied to a vertical TFET or a planarTFET depending on the demand of the product. According to a preferredembodiment of the present invention, the formation of the interfaciallayer is accomplished by first performing a plasma treatment process toinject a first gas containing nitrogen, injecting a second gascontaining oxygen, and then injecting a precursor to react with thefirst gas and the second gas for forming the interfacial layer.

Preferably, the first gas includes NH₃, N₂, or combination thereof, thesecond gas includes N₂O, O₂, or combination thereof, and the precursorpreferably includes elements such as La or Hf and an example of theprecursor could include HfCl₄. In this embodiment, an interfacial layercontaining nitrogen is formed after reacting the first gas, the secondgas, and the precursor, in which the interfacial layer preferably be adielectric layer including but not limited to for example LaON or HfON.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

1. A method for fabricating a tunnel field effect transistor (TFET),comprising: providing a substrate; and forming an interfacial layer onthe substrate, wherein the step of forming the interfacial layercomprises: performing a plasma treatment process to inject a first gascontaining nitrogen; injecting a second gas containing oxygen; andinjecting a precursor to react with the first gas and the second gas forforming the interfacial layer.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst gas comprises NH₃ or N₂.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thesecond gas comprises N₂O or O₂.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein theinterfacial layer comprises LaON or HfON.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: forming a source region on the substrate; forming achannel region on the source region, wherein the channel region has asidewall and a top surface; forming a drain region on the channelregion; forming the interfacial layer on the sidewall and the topsurface of the channel region; forming a high-k dielectric layer on theinterfacial layer; and forming a gate electrode on the high-k dielectriclayer.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising performing an atomiclayer deposition (ALD) process to form the high-k dielectric layer. 7.The method of claim 5, wherein the high-k dielectric layer comprisesHfO₂.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein the source region comprises afirst conductive type, the channel region comprises a second conductivetype, and the drain region comprises the second conductive type.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the source region, the channel region, andthe drain region comprise group III-V semiconductor compounds.
 10. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the first conductive type is p-type and thesecond conductive type is n-type.
 11. A tunnel field effect transistor(TFET), comprising: an interfacial layer on a substrate, wherein theinterfacial layer comprises LaON; a high-k dielectric layer on theinterfacial layer; a gate electrode on the high-k dielectric layer; asource region on one side of the gate electrode; and a drain region onanother side of the gate electrode, wherein the source region and thedrain region comprise different conductive types.
 12. (canceled)
 13. TheTFET of claim 11, further comprising: a channel region on the sourceregion, wherein the channel region has a sidewall and a top surface; theinterfacial layer on the sidewall and the top surface of the channelregion; the high-k dielectric layer on the interfacial layer; and thedrain region on the channel region.
 14. The TFET of claim 13, whereinthe high-k dielectric layer comprises HfO₂.
 15. The TFET of claim 13,wherein the source region comprises a first conductive type, the channelregion comprises a second conductive type, and the drain regioncomprises the second conductive type.
 16. The TFET of claim 15, whereinthe source region, the channel region, and the drain region comprisegroup III-V semiconductor compounds.
 17. The TFET of claim 16, whereinthe first conductive type is p-type and the second conductive type isn-type.